Computational Complexity

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

 
Entertainment Tidbits

Posted by Lance

Can a CS degree propel you to a major acting role on a popular new TV series? Worked for this person.

I heard a complaint that in the movie Deja Vu they used face-recognition algorithms to find a suitcase in a large city in a matter of seconds. Because it's important to keep the computer science accurate in a time-travel movie.

In the last Numb3rs, Charlie the mathematician was seen carrying a copy of the SIAM Journal on Computing, a prominent TCS journal. Was he reading my paper or yours? At the end of the episode Larry the physicist left on the space shuttle to spend six months on the International Space Station while the actor, Peter MacNicol, moves over temporarily to the show 24. Couldn't Larry just have gone on a normal sabbatical?

On a more serious note we finally got around to watching Al Gore's documentary An Inconvenient Truth. Gore seriously impressed me with how he laid out the arguments and effects of global warming. The movie really affected my daughters leading to some interesting family discussions about warming and what we can do. I highly recommend watching the movie for those who haven't yet done so.

3:30 PM #

1.  GASARCH says:  
   
   Jeff Westbrook, who got his PhD from
   Tarjan a while back, is a writer
   for THE SIMPSONS and FUTURAMA.
   
   I met him when he was interviewing for
   academic jobs. Didn't seem like the
   kid of person who would write comedy
   for TV...
   
   Favorite BAD MATH used in entertainment:
   IN an episode of 24, season 2,
   ``WE CAN"T BREAK THE CODE- ITS
   HUFFMAN CODED!''
   
   bill g.
   

   4:10 PM, December 20, 2006

2.  Anonymous says:  
   
   Favorite BAD MATH used in entertainment:
   
   Judging from the final exam, this quote is perfectly accurate, assuming the investigators are my students.
   

   5:06 PM, December 20, 2006

3.  Kamal Jain says:  
   
   A CS degree could get you an Oscar, e.g.,
   
   http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002838360_oscar02m.html
   

   3:43 PM, December 22, 2006

4.  Anonymous says:  
   
   Actually, it could get you three:
   
   http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0716315/awards
   
   http://newsrelease.uwaterloo.ca/news.php?id=594
   

   5:09 PM, December 22, 2006

5.  Anonymous says:  
   
   If you look at Gore's movie, then also have a look at Teller and Pen's Bullshit, environmental hysteria, season 1, ep 13. Just for the balance.
   

   2:55 AM, January 04, 2007